Dead maid found in Malaysian home

Police said the maid, named only as 24-year-old Kunarsih, was found dead when
her employer retuned home from work late on Wednesday.
<P>
The couple who employed the maid are in custody for questioning pending further
investigation, officials said.</P>
<P>
Indonesian embassy officials say police have told them that Kunarsih’s body
bore sign of abuse.</P>
<P>
The discovery is the latest in a series of cases to raise concerns over the
alleged abuse of domestic helpers in Malaysia.</p>
<p>Earlier this week, another Indonesian maid, Parsiti, 22, was rescued on a condominium
window ledge as she climbed down from a 22nd-floor apartment, apparently hoping
to escape an abusive employer.</p>
<p>That incident followed a similar case in June, dramatic photos of which appeared
around the world.</p>
<p>But despite the publicity, workers rights groups say officials often downplay
the problem of mistreatment of Malaysia’s 300,000 domestic helpers, the bulk
of whom come from Indonesia.</p>
<p><b>Lax enforcement</b></p>
<p>Commenting on the incident, Eka Suripto, an official at the Indonesian embassy
in Kuala Lumpur, said the lack of enforcement and prosecution of abusive employers
was compounding the problem.</p>
<p>&quot;Certainly this matter will be further investigated,&quot; he told Al
Jazeera. &quot;But the lack of law enforcement is leading to an increasing number
of maid abuse cases.&quot;</p>
<p>Punishing employers &quot;will serve as a deterrent for others not to abuse
their maids&quot; which will in turn reduce the numbers of such cases. But the
question is, what can the Malaysian government do in cases where the employers
go unpunished?&quot;</p>
<p>About 100 maids were currently seeking shelter at the embassy after complaining
about abusive employers, he said.</p>
<p>&quot;Once we finish with the relevant processes, we have to negotiate with
the employers for a settlement, such as unpaid wages, and then send the women
back to Indonesia,&quot; added Eka.</p>
<p><b>Protection</b></p>
<p>He said Malaysia and Indonesia signed an agreement to ensure better protection
for Indonesian maids last June, but officials were waiting to see those measures
being implemented.</p>
<p>&quot;If nothing happens soon, the matter will be raised at a top-level bilateral
consultation later this year,&quot; he added.</p>
<p>In a high-profile case four years ago, Nirmala Bonat, an Indonesian maid, told
a Malaysian court she was repeatedly branded on the breasts with a hot iron
for as punishment failing to iron her employer’s clothes properly.</p>
<p>According to Indonesian officials some 1,200 maids flee their employers every
month, often due to abuse or dissatisfaction with long working hours, a lack
of freedom of movement, or unpaid wages.</p>
<p>Malaysia relies heavily on Indonesian migrant workers to work as domestic helpers
as well as in other jobs such as construction and plantation work which many
Malaysians refuse to do.</p>
<p><i>Source: http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/315FDEC0-46BE-486C-A0D3-E018B9248B72.htm</i>